4 BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



still more important duty — the promotion of the agricultural interests 

 of the Province. He enjoyed in an eminent degree the confidence of 

 the then Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, Sir Wm. Colebrook, 

 as also that of the Bishop, the Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, 

 and the other chief officials of the colony. As a teacher he was loved 

 as well as respected by his pupils, seeking always for accuracy and 

 clearness of statement rather than for a show of words, and endeavor- 

 ing, as far as his very isolated position and remoteness from books and 

 fellow-laborers would allow, to keep himself acquainted with the latest 

 results of scientific thought and experiment. In December, 1840, he 

 married Miss Ellen Coster, daughter of the Archdeacon of New Bruns- 

 wick, and from that time his residence in the College building was a 

 centre from which he continued to influence for good a constantly 

 widening circle of individuals and of interests. 



We, as naturalists, are chiefly concerned with his scientific labours. 

 As might be expected, the natural products of a country quite new to 

 him were quick to attract his attention, and the dates attached 

 to specimens in the college herbarium show how soon after his arrival 

 he entered upon the study of the botany of the Province. Practically 

 he was our first botanist, for though others had made a few scattered 

 observations on the occurrence of particular species, he seems to have 

 been the first to attempt anything like a systematic collection. This 

 collection is now in the museum of the University of New Brunswick, 

 and embraces several hundred species, some of them forms of very 

 rare occurrence, and some species re-discovered long afterwards by 

 other observers. It was, of course, arranged on the old Linnsean 

 system, but both in its extent and in the accuracy of its determinations 

 shows clearly the labour expended upon its preparation. It is to be 

 regretted that in this, as in so many other instances, the results of his 

 work were never printed, so that little besides the collections which 

 he made remains to indicate the extent of his services. He must, 

 however, have maintained correspondence and exchanged specimens 

 with naturalists abroad, as along with his own collection are many 

 specimens sent from the herbaria of Messrs. Hooker and Balfour. He 

 must also have continued to enjoy an enviable reputation anion- the 

 botanists of the motherland, as his letters indicate the interesting fact 

 of his having been suggested as a possible successor to Sir W. Hooker 

 in the botanical chair in Glasgow, a position which, however, he says 

 that he could not, in view of his engagements here, honourably 

 accept. 



